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Has The Real Housewives of Atlanta changed (for the worse)?

The reality show out of Atlanta is not making sense. Newcomers Porsha and Kenya are confusing.

Porsha graces the screen with brains of the scarecrow, and Kenya, a fiercely independent flirt, for some reason, considers marriage the route to motherhood, even though it's clear she'd stay married for about six minutes.

Wow, it's 2012. In vitro, anyone?

And it is as though the other housewives recognize the reality crafted silliness and have grown tired. Kandi has lost her happy to be here on reality TV spark. Kim clearly can't be bothered with the girls or her fans. NeNe is flying above all the haters. Cynthia's still clinging to NeNe and suddenly the Fakedra moniker makes a lot of sense.

NeNe and Kim are the two remaining original ATL housewives, and Kenya and Porsha are the newbies. For the million and twelve bad things available to say about Kenya, there is no debating that she is, at the very least, smart.

For a long time, no one believed that Kim Zolciak was smart. Phaedra wanted to see Kim's nursing license and degree. For a full four seasons,Kim Zolciak has charmed and fooled audiences because she is witty and humorous in front of cameras. But now it's clear Kim is an act.

With the dream house gone bye-bye, Kim's acting for the cameras is transparent. Her conversations with Sweetie aren't the sincere conversations from two seasons ago. Kim's conversations are an attempt to save face about the housing incident--a fiasco that has cost Kim thousands over thousands of dollars on her AmEX card.

(Who does that?)

Ironically, Sweetie told Kim to be diplomatic about the eviction weeks ago, and only now does Kim get it. Regardless of the true reason for leaving the house of her dreams, Kim's exit from the place will always be viewed as some financial short falling of her and Kroy's. Although that is not true, Kim is so accustomed to playing dumb, that it is hard to believe otherwise about her eviction.

Porsha, the newest and youngest housewife, doesn't play dumb. It appears she really is and belongs in Orange County. Her grammar is atrocious (he seen), and her words often don't make sense. She said her error over Kenya's Miss USA versus Miss America title was a "fraudulent slip." Perhaps she meant innocent slip? And then Porsha told NeNe and Cynthia that she's doing charity work 265 days out of the year.

When housewives make comments that don't resonate with the average high school graduate, there's a hatred that seeps in. The hatred is rooted in a strong disapproval of wealthy women with the brains of scarecrows. Porsha is one such housewife. Not to worry, each city has one.

Kenya Moore does a little something for the dullness that is currently The Real Housewives of Atlanta. She's annoying, some say a walking example of a personality disorder. She's not fraudulent, violent or as shameful as Marlo Hampton, but Kenya comes close and, according to Phaedra, breaks cardinal rules. And that is ironic because Kenya swears she wants to be married and have a baby.

But Kenya can't even tell the truth. She passed off a carryout dinner as her own home cooked meal. She couldn't contain her excitement for Phaedra's husband, Apollo, while her boyfriend was there. Kenya comes across on film as superficial, shallow and dangerous. And just a little too old to act like a teenager. But in blogs, she is far more personable.

No matter how boring NeNe (even with Greg), Kim, Kandi, Cynthia and Phaedra are, at the very least they're smart and innovative women. Porsha is not and her ability to gel with the girls looks to be a real problem.

Take Home Message

At one point, NeNe Leakes was the class clown of Atlanta. She was the stereotypical angry, black woman. Now that her divorce is final, and NeNe and Greg no longer have anything to fuss about, NeNe's no longer a stereotype, but a normal woman with a career.

Even in the wrath that was NeNe Leakes, no one could ever accuse her of being a dumb blonde. Cynthia called it early when she befriended NeNe and recognized a woman going places.

Porsha is the first time The Real Housewives of Atlanta has cast a woman whose inheritance, rather than personal drive, created her wealth. Porsha is a woman born with a literal silver spoon in her mouth, but she's not very well educated or she missed a couple of crucial days in school.

Either way, the purpose of reality television, especially housewives shows, was to inspire audiences, perhaps even fuel a little envy. But the new cast of Atlanta, coupled with the old cast, no longer inspires. And daresay, each of the housewives franchises were successful because they inspired women to go and get theirs. Porsha and Kenya, thus far, do not instill any such aspirations for women.

Comments

When the show had NeNe as the trouble maker and Kim was her friend and stood by her -- that was an interesting show. Since they've gone their separate ways (and I don't even know why that happened or whose fault it was), the show just hasn't been the same. After Kim got married she didn't seem to have ANY interest in the show and should have opted out at that time. Too bad -- it used to be a show I looked forward to watching -- now I couldn't care less.

I actually like Porsha and she is not an act as other housewives in recent years. I’m like Cynthis this season too; she finally has found her voice and she has a great personality to boot. I’m going to miss next week’s episode because of my new work schedule at DISH. I’m bad with setting weekly timers on my DISH Hopper so I decided to record the entire season. I have over 400 hours of HD DVR room, and with that I won’t miss a single episode and I can still record my other favorite programs the same night without using up much space. Hopefully Kenya will get a second chance much like Camille from Beverly Hills.

My Mom, sisters and I are big Housewife fans. I'll tell you what we thought was very, very, very tacky, Porsha's husband giving her a Chanel bag in front of everyone at a charity event. Is she clueless as to how that looked. As far as Ms. USA goes none of us has a good thing to say about her. We agree she needs to get more help with her mother issues. If I were her boyfriend I wouldn't marry her if you gave me all the money in the world. I hope he sees the episodes before he makes any crazy decisions.